Its conference season and most of my colleagues, like myself, are busy traveling from one conference to the next, sharing our respective organization’s current research and project findings, and making important connections to expand our reach and build partnerships.

Last week I attended the National Mitigation and Ecosystem Banking Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was a productive meeting, full of opportunities for folks in the mitigation banking industry, state wetland agencies, and federal partners to exchange ideas on ways to improve wetland restoration and compensatory mitigation.

Most of you are likely getting ramped up for a busy field season, but we hope we’ll get a chance to see some of you at the events we’ll be attending over the next month. If you see one of us, please come up and say hello!

IPBES – May 5, 2019Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history — and the rate of species extinctions is accelerating, with grave impacts on people around the world now likely, warns a landmark new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the summary of which was approved at the 7th session of the IPBES Plenary, meeting last week (29 April – 4 May) in Paris. “The overwhelming evidence of the IPBES Global Assessment, from a wide range of different fields of knowledge, presents an ominous picture,” said IPBES Chair, Sir Robert Watson. “The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.” Read full media release here.

By Steven Mufson – The Washington Post – April 16, 2019Attorneys general from 14 states and the District of Columbia on Tuesday vehemently opposed the Trump administration’s proposal to roll back a regulation known as Waters of the United States, a move they said would end federal oversight of 15 percent of streams and more than half of the nation’s wetlands. The limit on the federal government’s authority to regulate the pollution of wetlands and tributaries that run into the nation’s largest rivers would be a major win for builders, farmers, coal miners and frackers. Read full story here.

EPA Issues Guidance on Clean Water Act Permitting Requirements

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – April 15, 2019Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued guidance clarifying the application of Clean Water Act (CWA or the Act) permitting requirements to groundwater. EPA’s Interpretative Statement concludes that Congress excluded releases of pollutants to groundwater from the Act’s permitting requirements and instead left regulation of those releases to the states and EPA’s other statutory authorities. Read full news release here.

National News

Interior Secretary Awards States More than $20 Million in Grants Supporting Coastal Wetlands Conservation, Recreation and Communities

Contact: Vanessa Kauffman – U.S. Department of the Interior – May 8, 2019Today, U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt is awarding more than $20 million to 22 projects in 11 coastal states to protect, restore or enhance more than 7,000 acres of coastal wetlands and adjacent upland habitats under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program. State and local governments, private landowners, conservation groups and other partners will contribute more than $26.7 million in additional funds to these projects. These grants will have wide-reaching benefits for local economies, people and wildlife – boosting coastal resilience, reducing flood risk, stabilizing shorelines and protecting natural ecosystems. Read full press release here.

House passes bill to force U.S. to stay in Paris climate agreement

By Dino Grandoni – The Washington Post – May 2, 2019The House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday designed to force the United States to stay in the Paris accord, in a rebuke to President Trump, who has promised to withdraw from the landmark climate agreement inked under his predecessor, Barack Obama. The Democratic bill, which passed 231 to 190 in a vote largely along party lines, stands little chance of approval in the GOP-controlled Senate. Read full story here.

By Darryl Fears – The Washington Post – May 1, 2019The Trump administration is pressing ahead with processing permits that would allow companies to search for oil and gas deposits using potentially harmful seismic blasts in the Atlantic Ocean, despite its decision to delay an unprecedented plan to sell federal leases on nearly the entire U.S. outer continental shelf. Read full story here.

By Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis – The Washington Post – April 27, 2019The Environmental Protection Agency published a 150-page document this past week with a straightforward message for coping with the fallout from natural disasters across the country: Start planning for the fact that climate change is going to make these catastrophes worse. The language, included in guidance on how to address the debris left in the wake of floods, hurricanes and wildfires, is at odds with the rhetoric of the EPA’s own leader, Andrew Wheeler. Just last month, Wheeler said in an interview with CBS that “most of the threats from climate change are 50 to 75 years out.” Read full story here.

EPA to Provide more than $2.6 Million in Grants for Wetland Programs Across New England

Contact: John Senn – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – April 23, 2019The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that state, local and tribal governments can apply for grants to develop or refine programs to protect, manage and restore wetlands across New England. EPA expects to provide $2,666,000 over the next two years for these wetland program development grants across the six New England states, with approximately equal allocations over fiscal years 2019 and 2020. Initial applications for the grants are due to EPA by May 24, 2019, and selected recipients will manage the assistance agreement for an initial project period of two years in length, starting no earlier than October 1, 2019. Read full news release here.

Interior’s watchdog opens an ethics probe into Bernhardt four days after his Senate confirmation

By Darryl Fears – The Washington Post – April 15, 2019The Interior Department’s internal watchdog opened an investigation into ethics complaints against former oil and gas lobbyist David Bernhardt on Monday, four days after the Senate confirmed him as the agency’s secretary. A spokeswoman for Interior’s inspector general’s office, Nancy DiPaolo, said the probe is “based on requests from multiple lawmakers and others.” At least eight senators who chastised Bernhardt during his confirmation hearing, including Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), called for an investigation. Numerous conservation groups also submitted demands for inquiry into potential conflicts of interest. Read full story here.

After a $14-Billion Upgrade, New Orleans' Levees Are Sinking

By Thomas Frank – E&E News – Scientific America – April 11, 2019The $14 billion network of levees and floodwalls that was built to protect greater New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was a seemingly invincible bulwark against flooding. But now, 11 months after the Army Corps of Engineers completed one of the largest public works projects in world history, the agency says the system will stop providing adequate protection in as little as four years because of rising sea levels and shrinking levees. Read full article here.

U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works – April 9, 2019U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), introduced S.1087, the Water Quality Certification Improvement Act of 2019. The legislation is cosponsored by Senators Steve Daines (R-MT), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Mike Enzi (R-WY), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND). The bill amends Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. The legislation makes several key clarifications to existing law about the appropriate scope of review for a water quality certification. It would also place procedural guardrails and requirements on states as they process requests for certification to prevent future abuses. Read full press release here.

By Isaac Pearlman – Sierra Club – April 22, 2019Now, the south San Francisco bay shoreline’s next mammoth transformation is well underway: a 50-year project to return the salt ponds back to the bay, restoring them once again into tidal marsh for the first time in 150 years. At about half the size of San Francisco, the 15,000-plus-acre wetland restoration effort is the largest on the West Coast. The project will remake the South Bay’s shoreline and hopefully buffer the low-lying, densely populated area against rising sea levels. Read full story here.

By Martin Wisckol – The Orange County Register – April 19, 2019Between Southern California’s popular beaches and much-traversed mountain trails lies an unsung natural landscape, teeming with its own special wildlife. As you head outdoors to celebrate Earth Day weekend — or to simply connect with nature and leave behind the anxieties of urban life — one option is our area’s often overlooked coastal wetlands. Read full story here.

CT: Can New Haven save its shoreline, protect city from climate change?

By Mary E. O’Leary – New Haven Register – April 8, 2019East Shore Park is a well-used refuge for walkers and sports enthusiasts alike, a total of 64 acres with 3,200 feet of shoreline off Woodward Avenue. Possibly the one problem at the popular site, which has 600,000 users per year, was summed up by Giovanni Zinn. “It would be nice to see the water,” said Zinn, the city’s engineer. His department is using an estimated $4 million in bond funds authorized by the state to employ natural methods to reverse erosion and create a resilient shoreline for decades to come. Read full story here.

GA: Lawsuit: Sea Island violated law in marsh-filling project

By Wes Wolfe – The Brunswick News – April 19, 2019A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Brunswick accuses Sea Island Acquisition of violating the conditions of its permit under the Clean Water Act to fill in nearly half an acre of wetlands adjoining St. Simons Island, by The Inn at Sea Island. Read full story here.

LA: State hires contractor team to build Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion

By Mark Schleifstein – NOLA.com-The Times-Picayune – April 8, 2019A new joint venture company made up of national construction firms with a history of building levees and bridges in Louisiana has been selected by the state coastal authority to oversee construction of the proposed $800 million Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion in Plaquemines Parish. The Mid-Breton diversion will be built on the east bank of the Mississippi River at Will’s Point, about 68 miles above Head of Passes. It will be designed to capture sediment rich water from the Mississippi and move it eastward into the Breton Sound Basin to restore wetlands. Read full story here.

By Timothy B. Wheeler – Bay Journal – May 7, 2019Federal and Maryland authorities are seeking the public’s help to track down whoever poisoned at least nine bald eagles in two locations on the Eastern Shore earlier this year. They’re the latest in a series of unsolved poisonings on the Delmarva Peninsula that have killed at least 29 of the federally protected birds in the last three years. Read full article here.

MD: Brunswick approves first steps for Watershed Implementation Plan

By Heather Mongilio – The Federick News-Post – April 11, 2019The Brunswick City Council on Tuesday approved the first step in its Watershed Implementation Plan. The Watershed Implementation Plan is a requirement under the Maryland Department of the Environment’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit. The implementation plan details how a municipality will go about achieving the goals set by the agency to limit the daily amount of pollution that goes into the water and eventually reaches the Chesapeake Bay. Read full story here.

MA: Baker-Polito Administration Awards $1.6 Million for River and Wetland Restoration and Climate Adaptation

Contact: Katie Gronendyke – Mass.gov – April 25, 2019In recognition of Earth Week, the Baker-Polito Administration today announced $1.6 million in state and federal grant funds for ecological restoration projects in the towns of Brookfield, Chicopee, Dartmouth, Mattapoisett, Newbury, and Pittsfield to support river and wetland habitat restoration and climate adaptation. These projects are also now designated as Priority Projects through the Department of Fish and Game’s (DFG) Division of Ecological Restoration (DER), making the projects eligible for technical services, including data collection, engineering, design work, permitting, project management and grants. Read full press release here.

OR: 3 Bills Would Ease Rules Around Wetland Development

By Tracy Loew – Statesman Journal – U.S. News – April 22, 2019Developers would be able to build in wetlands more cheaply and quickly if three bills in the Oregon Legislature are approved. The legislation would reduce the amount of wetland mitigation required in some cases, streamline the permitting process and create a pilot program to create a local mitigation bank, the Statesman Journal reported Monday. Backers say the bills will help address Oregon’s housing crisis and spur economic development. Read full story here.

PA: Feds working to update flood plain maps

By William Kibler – Altoona Mirror – April 28, 2019Two federal agencies are gathering information to revise flood plain mapping for the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River and its tributaries from Duncansville to Williamsburg. The new maps to be created by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Susquehanna River Basin Commission will replace outdated maps from the late 1970s, said Craig Thomas, a Corps hydrologist from the Baltimore office who spoke recently to Duncansville Borough Council. Council President Jeff Wolfe had asked for the update in response to residents’ complaints about flood insurance premium hikes. Read full story here.

By Martin Wisckol – The Orange County Register – April 18, 2019 – VideoPennsylvania's soon-to-be official amphibian has more than its fair share of nicknames: snot otter, mud devil, Allegheny alligator, devil dog, lasagna lizard. In short, it's not exactly a looker. But the Eastern hellbender salamander was the overwhelming choice of lawmakers for amphibian representation in the state. On Tuesday, the state's House of Representatives voted 191-6 on a bill that would name the aquatic creature its state amphibian. Read full story and view video here.

By Bo Petersen – The Post and Courier – April 15, 2019Cypress trees, swamp oaks, tupelo — more than 215,000 native wetland trees have just been planted to restore 500 acres in Four Holes Swamp near Holly Hill. Think of them as a solution to flooding. The Audubon South Carolina seedling effort will create a couple of hundred-thousand more tall straws in the swamp’s ability to suck up floodwaters that otherwise would deluge the rapidly developing Charleston suburbs downstream. Read full story here.

TX: Galveston Bay rises with $2 million gift to protect and beautify ecosystem

By Steven Devadanam – CultureMap – April 26, 2019Lovers of Galveston Bay know that the ecosystem has been beset by challenges, after being ravaged by Hurricane Harvey and the Deepwater Horizon spill, and last year, receiving a C grade for its overall wellness. Even more challenging, Galveston Bay has lost more than 35,000 acres of intertidal wetlands since the 1950s. But now, hope floats, with the news that the Galveston Bay Foundation has received a $2.3 million award to continue to restore and create marsh habitat in the Dollar Bay/Moses Lake complex in Galveston Bay. Read full story here.

TX: Playas Help Texans Live Within Water Means

Texas Playa Conservation Initiative – April 26, 2019A cutting-edge producer of organic crops and livestock who sees playas as vital recharge wetlands shared his thoughts on what must be done to protect playas and the water future of the region during a recent Playa Field Day in Hereford, Texas. Sponsors of the event included Ogallala Commons and its partners, the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District, the Dixon Water Foundation, and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Read full story here.

VA: Virginia coastal towns brace for rising sea level

By Kal Weinstein and Owen FitzGerald – The Virginia Gazette – April 30, 2019 The tide is high, but this seaside town is holding on. As the owner and operator of Seaside Eco-tours, Capt. Meriwether Payne ferries passengers from the Wachapreague Town Marina to the barrier islands just beyond the marshes of the shoreline village. The nature surrounding Virginia’s Eastern Shore is the heart of her business, but the rising sea level and the resulting increase in coastal flooding are threatening Payne’s excursions. Read full story here.

Washington Department of Ecology – April 29, 2019Cooke Aquaculture will pay the full $332,000 penalty to the Washington Department of Ecology for the collapse of its floating pen near Cypress Island that released 250,000 non-native fish into Puget Sound. The collapse in August 2017 led to a multi-agency investigation, and ultimately to the state Legislature passing a bill to phase out non-native fish farming. Read full story here.

By Rich Kremer – Wisconsin Public Radio – May 1, 2019Officials with the state Department of Natural Resources will not overturn an administrative law judge's decision to invalidate a permit to fill 16 acres of high-quality wetland to make way for a proposed frac sand facility in Monroe County. Instead, the agency said the decision would be handled best by the circuit court system. Read full story here.

Wetland Science News

A new effort to save birds pinpoints in amazing detail where they fly

By Anders Gyllenhaal – The Washington Post – April 29, 2019For years, as California’s Central Valley grew into the nation’s leading agricultural corridor, the region gradually lost almost all of the wetlands that birds, from the tiny sandpiper to the great blue heron, depend on during their migrations along the West Coast. But a dramatic turnaround is underway in the valley. Dozens of farmers leave water on their fields for a few extra weeks each season to create rest stops for birds. The campaign has not only helped salvage a vital stretch of the north-south migration path called the Pacific Flyway but also tested a fresh model for protecting wildlife. Read full story here.

American Geophysical Union – April 23, 2019New research highlights the “incredible challenge” of reaching the Paris Agreement without intense action and details the extreme temperatures parts of the planet will suffer if countries fail to reduce emissions. Two new studies published in the AGU journals Geophysical Research Letters and Earth’s Future now show some of the goals set forth in the agreement might be difficult to reach without much sacrifice. Read full press release here.

Rate of ice loss from Greenland has grown by a factor of six since the 1980s, scientists find

By Chris Mooney and Brady Dennis – The Washington Post – April 22, 2019Greenland, home to Earth’s second-largest ice sheet, has lost ice at an accelerating pace in the past several decades — a nearly sixfold increase that could contribute to future sea-level rise, according to a new study based on nearly a half-century of data. The findings, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, estimate that Greenland’s glaciers went from dumping about 51 billion tons of ice into the ocean between 1980 to 1990, to 286 billion tons between 2010 and 2018. The result is that out of nearly 14 millimeters of sea-level rise in total caused by Greenland since 1972, half of it has occurred in the past eight years, researchers found. Read full story here.

Study Shows Continuing Impacts of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Nature World News – April 21, 2019Nine years ago - April 20, 2010--crude oil began leaking from the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig into the Gulf of Mexico in what turned out to be the largest marine oil spill in history. A long-term study suggests the oil is still affecting the salt marshes of the Gulf Coast and reveals the key role that marsh grasses play in the overall recovery of these important coastal wetlands. Conducting the study was a multi-institutional research team funded in part by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, a 10-year independent program established through a $500 million financial commitment from BP. The team began sampling soon after the spill was finally contained and continue their work today. Their most-recent article--in Estuaries and Coasts--reports on the first six and a half years of sampling post-spill. Read full story here.

A climate change solution slowly gains ground

By Steven Mufson – The Washington Post – April 19, 2019At the end of a cul-de-sac called Fresh Way, two bright green structures the size of shipping containers gleam in the warm sunlight, quietly sucking from the air the carbon dioxide that is warming the planet. One structure houses computer monitors and controls. Atop the other, large fans draw air through slabs made of honeycomb-style ceramic cubes. The cubes hold proprietary chemicals that act like sponges, absorbing carbon dioxide at room temperature. Every 15 minutes, the slabs rotate and the cubes are heated, releasing a stream of 99 percent pure carbon dioxide into a shiny steel pipe. This is Global Thermostat, one of just three companies at the leading edge of the hunt for ways of skimming carbon dioxide from the air. Read full story here.

By Chris Mooney – The Washington Post – April 17, 2019 – VideoA high-profile NASA temperature data set, which has pronounced the last five years the hottest on record and the globe a full degree Celsius warmer than in the late 1800s, has found new backing from independent satellite records — suggesting the findings are on a sound footing, scientists reported Tuesday. If anything, the researchers found, the pace of climate change could be somewhat more severe than previously acknowledged, at least in the fastest warming part of the world — its highest latitudes. Read full story and view video here.

Amphibian apocalypse is twice as bad as scientists thought

By Jason Bittel – The Washington Post – March 28, 2019There is a plague ripping through the amphibian species of the world. It’s caused by fungus that’s invisible to the naked eye and spreads easily by many means. It kills by disrupting the way these creatures breathe through their skin, essentially suffocating frogs and salamanders. The disease is called chytridiomycosis, and according to a landmark study published Thursday in the journal Science, it’s even worse than we thought. Read full story here.

Resources and Publications

New online tool to help guide conservation efforts

CBS19 News – April 11, 2019A new statewide land conservation strategy identifies high-value lands and conservation sites across Virginia. Governor Ralph Northam announced the creation of ConserveVirginia earlier this week. It is a first-in-the-nation, data-driven approach that features a "smart map" to guide conservation efforts. Read full story here.

Improving Implementation of the 2008 Mitigation Rule

Trout Headwaters, Inc. – April 9, 2019This latest whitepaper, co-authored by Trout Headwaters CEO Michael Sprague, highlights recommendations provided to government officials and agencies recently for improving implementation of the 2008 Mitigation Rule for compensatory mitigation. These suggestions follow a careful study of data provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Read the whitepaper here.

America's Most Endangered Rivers of 2019

American Rivers – 2019Water scarcity due to global warming could displace 700 million people worldwide by 2030. In the same time frame, 54 million lives globally could be impacted by river floods. In the United States, our climate has warmed by 1.8 degrees in the past century. It’s time to get real about what this means: Forest fires are growing more destructive, cities are struggling to do more with less water, fish and wildlife are struggling to survive and storms are triggering more life-threatening floods. Read full report here.

Moving Toward a Multi-Benefit Approach for Water Management

Pacific Institute – April 2019There is broad recognition that adapting to climate change, coupled with the need to address aging infrastructure, population growth, and degraded ecosystems, will require rethinking programs and policies and investing in our natural and built water systems. Many of the strategies for addressing water challenges can also provide other benefits, including reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, providing wildlife habitat, and enhancing community livability. However, identifying and quantifying these benefits for water management strategies can be challenging. This report proposes a framework for systematically identifying and incorporating the multiple benefits and trade-offs of water management strategies into decision-making processes. Read full report here.

Potpourri

'Historic day for Scotland' as beavers get protected status

By Libby Brooks – The Guardian – May 1, 2019Wildlife campaigners have hailed a “historic day for Scotland” as beavers are granted protected status a decade after their successful reintroduction in Argyll. It is now illegal to kill the animals or destroy established dams and lodges without a license. While wildlife groups emphasize the widespread ecological benefits of the beavers’ reintroduction, including increasing biodiversity and reducing flood risk, farming representatives continue to raise concerns about damage to agricultural land and waterways. Read full article here.

Four New (Old) Ways the White House is Trying to Restrict Science for Policymaking

By Andrew Rosenberg – Union of Concerned Citizens – April 25, 2019Yesterday, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the White House issued new “guidance” for the Administration to “Improve Implementation of the Information Quality Act”. Unfortunately, it reads like a re-hashing of some of the worst ideas for restricting the use of science in policymaking from the last five years or so. Way back in 2015, when some members of Congress were trying some of these same tricks to tip the scales in favor of regulated industry we summarized them in a Policy Forum article in Science. Here we go again—but this time, the Trump administration is trying to push these changes through unilaterally, the latest round in a long list of efforts to push science to the sidelines. Read full blog post here.

Wildflowers: robust, low-maintenance, pollinator-friendly

By Dean Fosdick – Associated Press – April 16, 2019Gardeners trying to lure pollinators to their landscape would be wise to mimic nature and plant wildflowers. The attractive perennials tolerate harsh climates, seldom need fertilizing and resist most diseases and insect pests. Wildflowers are durable, too, requiring little or no irrigation once established. “They bloom early and establish nicely to make a very natural colony,” said Barry Glick, owner of Sunshine Farm and Gardens in Renick, West Virginia. But beware: Some native plants are invasive. Read full story here.

Green infrastructure benefits extend beyond stormwater

By Joan Smedinghoff – Chesapeake Bay Program – April 12, 2019When it comes to community infrastructure, many local officials are looking for solutions that serve multiple purposes. That’s where green infrastructure, such as the curb extension pictured above, can come into play. As the name suggests, curb extensions increase the space between the curb and the sidewalk (or, conversely, decrease the space between the curb and car). In that new space, cities can place many different solutions to fit their needs: benches, trash cans, gardens, trees, artwork—you name it. When coupled with green infrastructure practices like permeable pavement or rain gardens, these curb extensions can meet multiple needs. Read full blog post here.

Proposed Conservation Agreement for Monarch Butterfly

Contact: Georgia Parham – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – April 12, 2019The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is announcing the opening of a 60-day public comment period regarding an “enhancement of survival” permit application associated with a proposed Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) for the monarch butterfly on energy and transportation lands. The proposed agreement would involve transportation and energy partners across the lower 48 states and would address conservation needs of the species on millions of acres of rights-of-way and associated lands. Read full press release here.

Photo Contest Winners Gallery

Chesapeake Bay Foundation Presenting the winners of CBF's Save the Bay Photo Contest! Use the map to see where these talented photographers found their inspiration. See winners here.